Twitter as teacher

Posted by Shelah | August 29, 2009 | 8 Comments

Last week, I took on the task of unpacking my book boxes and filling the new bookshelves. As I separated the volumes into fiction and non, I flipped through a few of the titles. I opened George Eliot’s Middlemarch and noticed that the first paragraph extends halfway through the second page of text, it suddenly dawned on me why I was three hundred pages into the novel before I finally felt the fog of confusion lifting. In the twenty-first century, we don’t write like that anymore.

Eliot starts off pretty well, with the sentence, “Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.” But after that, Eliot breaks off into a tangent about blessed virgins and Italian painters, and if you’re like me, easily distracted by a toddler or the conversation of people at the next table, you’re probably lost after a couple of lines. Eliot, like Dickens and James and other writers of her time, lived in a time when readers were often willing to invest time in 800 page novels filled with semi-colon laden paragraphs.

We twenty-first-century readers, who often turn to the internet for our news and to blogs for our reading material, often aren’t as willing to figure out what Eliot’s actually saying in all of those dependent clauses. Last year I signed up for Twitter, just as I’d signed up for a blog five years ago when the blog craze hit. I know that many people disparage Twitter. “How can anyone say anything worth saying in 140 characters?”

It’s true, most Tweets are pretty lame, but they don’t have to be. When I started Twittering (or is it Tweeting?) mine usually were along the lines of “unloading groceries– excited for the new ice cream I bought.” Short enough, sure, but also pretty boring to anyone who isn’t a) going to eat the ice cream with me or b) my mother. Much like blogging, there’s an art to Tweeting. Here’s what I usually do:

1) Write about things I’m thinking about or commentary on what I’m doing, rather than just report on what I’m doing, which is usually pretty boring.

2) Write everything I want to say in the little Twitter box, then go through and cut and cut until it’s as short as it has to be.

3) Read lots of Tweets, because becoming familiar with the genre is a great way to getting better at writing anything worth writing (are Tweets worth writing?).

The great thing is that writing with a 140-character limit has made me pay attention to being more concise as I write. Even when I’m not writing in a tiny box on my computer screen, I now often go back and delete unnecessary words and rework phrases so they’re as streamlined as possible. I even find that I’m blogging less, because sometimes I can express in 140 characters or less the same ideas it took 300 or 400 words to get out on my blog.

Consider this Tweet:

“A child who exclaims ‘it’s ruined’ as she surveys her wet dress should really be potty trained.”

In the past I probably would have blogged about the experience, but I hope that the 100-something-character sentence encapsulates the thought that I have a kid who is precocious in many ways, but it’s clinging steadfastly to her diapers. And also that I feel guilty about it, but not guilty enough to actually do the potty training. See, now wasn’t that easy?

Even if you never plan to Tweet, sign up for Twitter. You’ll see the good, the bad and the ugly of what the 140-character format can squeeze out of writers. And besides, you can get great updates from Segullah.

So Twitter, love it? Hate it? Why? If you’re a Twitterer, what are your tricks of the trade when it comes to writing Tweets?

Category: Writing Workshop

Comments

8 Responses to “Twitter as teacher”

Faith.Not.Fear
August 29th, 2009 @ 2:43 pm

Sounds like a great way to write a powerful novel!

I must admit that I often read books like the man who wrote “Princess Bride”‘s dad did — skipping the flowery, wordy descriptions (even did it in that book!) to get to the insightful dialogue or riveting action.

I was thinking of how we could share the Gospel via Twitter.
Think of some of the most powerful scriptures:
- Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.
- We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
- Jesus wept.

Twittering could be an amazing tool if we share the truly, eternally valuable! I worry when women share things like “I just got out of the shower!”

Some things are better left un-tweeted!
Jennie
August 29th, 2009 @ 3:41 pm

So is it like the 21st century version of a haiku?
Ziff
August 29th, 2009 @ 3:45 pm

I haven’t used Twitter, but I really like the points you make about how it forces you to be more concise. Only vaguely related, but when I was in graduate school, my advisor was very busy and sometimes took a while to respond to email, so I learned to try to put the gist of the message in the subject line so he would at least read that and know what I was asking about.

I’m also glad to know I’m not the only one with a short 21st century attention span. When I try to read even magazine articles that are more than a couple of pages, my mind wanders. I think Slate has spoiled me.
Carina
August 29th, 2009 @ 5:13 pm

Don’t forget to follow Segullah!

@blogSegullah
m2theh
August 29th, 2009 @ 5:37 pm

I had that exact same problem with Middlemarch!
Lee Ann
August 29th, 2009 @ 10:47 pm

I just like to say “twicks of the tweeting twade.”
m&m
August 29th, 2009 @ 11:41 pm

I LOVE this post, Shelah. Twitter is really adding a dimension to the online world, to the world of words, really.

I love that you see it as a challenge. It can be a huge waste of time, and extremely annoying, but also an interesting experience. You just added a layer of interesting to it for me.
JDOherty
August 30th, 2009 @ 4:50 pm

closed out my twitter acct; a few good tweets not worth perpetually screening twerps, tweetscams
and sheer drivel.